


Kitten

by Zoi no miko (zoi_no_miko)



Category: The Blacklist (TV)
Genre: Episode Related, Gen, Grief/Mourning, Presents
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-20
Updated: 2014-03-20
Packaged: 2018-01-16 09:23:16
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 286
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1342048
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zoi_no_miko/pseuds/Zoi%20no%20miko
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Post Mako Tanida. Ressler receives his gift with mixed emotions.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Kitten

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Monophobia/Strengefruits](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=Monophobia%2FStrengefruits).



> Just a small drabble. Might be incorporated into a longer work shortly.
> 
> For Strengefruits, whose kitten comment inspired the piece and who needs to tell me her damn AO3 name.

The 48 hours after the FBI had brought Donald Ressler in from his vigilante crusade were the worst. They couldn’t charge him, not when he hadn’t personally killed anyone or provably broken any rules beyond going off the grid, and Cooper would protect him from any disciplinary action. But Cooper couldn’t protect him from the army of FBI shrinks determined to pick through his brain with tweezers looking for weakness for a reason to keep him off duty. They found nothing; it was over. He had no reason to pursue violence when justice had been met. He allowed the shrinks intrusion was silent resignation, and wished they would leave him to his pain.

Then Raymond fucking Reddington had sent him a perfectly beautiful box with a goddamn human head inside. Somehow he hadn’t been completely surprised when it had arrived. He’d felt a strange mix of repulsion and satisfaction upon opening the box and finding the head of Mako Tanida. It was followed by a surge of the most ridiculous amusement that he’d had to cover his mouth to keep from laughing out loud and appearing more unhinged than he or he did.

Of course Reddington would send him a head in a box. It made him think suddenly of his parents’ cat, leaving presents of dead mice and gophers on their back step as either a sign of affection or a statement of disgust that the silly humans couldn’t hunt for themselves. Which association had Reddington intended him to make? Both options brought tears of silent laughter to his eyes, and it was the first time since Audrey’s death that he’s felt anything but pain and rage.

Perhaps that had been Reddington’s goal all along.


End file.
